On 2015 Sep 10, David Keller commented:

Did droxidopa increase dyskinesias, blood pressure, heart rate & adrenergic side-effects?

In general, medications which improve rigidity and bradykinesia and other "off symptoms" in Parkinson disease (PD) patients also tend to worsen dyskinesias. If droxidopa was able to improve PD "off" symptoms without worsening dyskinesias, then this drug is a breakthrough. The effect of droxidopa on dyskinesias is a crucial outcome and should be reported in the abstract. Without this information, the study cannot be evaluated properly.

Droxidopa is a metabolic precursor of norepinephrine, so it is expected to result in adrenergic effects, such as increasing blood pressure, heart rate, insomnia, heart arrhythmias, constipation, etc. The presence or absence of such side-effects is of interest to clinicians and patients, and should also be reported in the abstract.

Addendum

On September 16, 2015, I received a very informative email from Shifu Zhao, MD, in which he stated that "adrenergic side-effects were not significantly increased comparing with placebo group or baseline data at droxidopa dose 600mg/day" including "blood pressure, insomnia, palpitation, ECG" [1].

In addition, he assured me that add-on droxidopa therapy improved tremor and alternating motion of the hands in patients with moderate-to-severe Parkinson's disease, without worsening dyskinesias. [1]

I thank Dr. Zhao for supplying this information to me, and I hereby relay it to other Parkinson disease patients who read scientific abstracts without access to the underlying journal articles.

Reference:

1: Zhao S, Personal Communication by email, Received 9/16/2015 in reply to an earlier email inquiry.

On 2015 Sep 10, David Keller commented:

Did droxidopa increase dyskinesias, blood pressure, heart rate & adrenergic side-effects?

In general, medications which improve rigidity and bradykinesia and other "off symptoms" in Parkinson disease (PD) patients also tend to worsen dyskinesias. If droxidopa was able to improve PD "off" symptoms without worsening dyskinesias, then this drug is a breakthrough. The effect of droxidopa on dyskinesias is a crucial outcome and should be reported in the abstract. Without this information, the study cannot be evaluated properly.

Droxidopa is a metabolic precursor of norepinephrine, so it is expected to result in adrenergic effects, such as increasing blood pressure, heart rate, insomnia, heart arrhythmias, constipation, etc. The presence or absence of such side-effects is of interest to clinicians and patients, and should also be reported in the abstract.

Addendum

On September 16, 2015, I received a very informative email from Shifu Zhao, MD, in which he stated that "adrenergic side-effects were not significantly increased comparing with placebo group or baseline data at droxidopa dose 600mg/day" including "blood pressure, insomnia, palpitation, ECG" [1].

In addition, he assured me that add-on droxidopa therapy improved tremor and alternating motion of the hands in patients with moderate-to-severe Parkinson's disease, without worsening dyskinesias. [1]

I thank Dr. Zhao for supplying this information to me, and I hereby relay it to other Parkinson disease patients who read scientific abstracts without access to the underlying journal articles.

Reference:

1: Zhao S, Personal Communication by email, Received 9/16/2015 in reply to an earlier email inquiry.